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IDFFB

The 7th edition of the Indian Documentary Film Festival Bhubaneswar (IDFFB) is a four day program, screening critically acclaimed films, recognised at major film festivals, from across the world.

 

The festival is hosting a retrospective on Uma Chakravarti’s films. Prof. Chakravarti is a historian who learnt filmmaking after her retirement and has made films about women and their struggles across different historical periods in our country, developing a film practice spanning two decades.

 

The focus of this year's festival is on films from Kurdistan - films that depict the tragedies of the land and the rise of sectarian ideologies and violence, the heroic resistance of women, and the cultural expression through music – traditional Kurdish songs, ‘the dengbej’. The festival introduces the works of Alba Sotorra, Deriya Deniz and Shero Hinde.

 

The festival reflects on the lives of students through the films of Gautam Sonti, Hemant Gaba, Deepa Dhanraj. These films portray young students navigating the oppressive coaching culture of Kota, the experiences of a group of seven students at IIT Delhi, and the stifling climate of university life.

 

The struggles of women in contemporary times are examined in Shashwati Talukdar’s film “Marriage Cops” set in Uttarakhand, a close look at the reconciliatory efforts of female police personnel working with distressed couples. The lives of female autorickshaw drivers are examined through the life of auto drivers in Sraiyanti Haricharan’s “Auto Queens” while Anuradha Bansal examines the notion of womanhood set within a Marwari community in her work “A Good Wife”.

 

Varrun Sukhraj is back at the festival with his structural examination of the Indian Banking System in his “The Great Indian Illusion”. The trials of Poppy farming are examined in a deeply observational work “I, Poppy” by Vivek Chaudhary. One of the major challenges to the caste system was mounted by Bhima Bhoi and Mahima Swamy – the world of Mahima Dharma is explored in the Odia film “Arupa Rupa” by Deba Ranjan Sarangi. The closing film of the festival is Kamal KM’s new work “Close Up/Up Close” a testament to live theatre and the intense physical journey of adapting Alfred Jarry’s 1896 absurd masterpiece, Ubu Roi

The design note can be found here.

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Wo Subah Hami Se Aayegi

Uma Chakravarti

Hindi, English, Tamil, Kannada

78

'

|

2025

This documentary traces the women’s movements in India over four decades: their resistance to violence, their challenges to caste and patriarchal tradition, and the legal and social changes they fought for and won. Spanning regions and communities across the country, the film captures the vibrancy of their leaders, the urgency of the movements and the impact on all our lives.

Ek Inquilab Aur Aaya: Lucknow 1920-1949

Uma Chakravarti

English, Hindi

66

'

|

2017

Set in Firanghi Mahal, a centre of rationalist Islamic scholarship, the film traces the lives of Sughra Fatema and Khadija Ansari, two women who challenged social norms through poetry and revolutionary student activism.

Yeh Lo Bayaan Humare

Uma Chakravarti

English

142

'

|

2021

Yeh Lo Bayaan Humaare recounts fifteen young women who joined revolutionary movements in late-1960s India, facing police torture and imprisonment. Through their memories and rare archival material, the film traces their resistance, camaraderie, loss and survival amid political repression, culminating in the Emergency and the country’s descent into dictatorship.

South Asian movies
kurdish.jpg

Lonely Trees

Shero Hinde

Kurdish (Kurmanci dialect), Arabic, Assyrian

43

'

|

2017

A documentary explores the ‘dengbêj’ musical heritage of the singers, poets and storytellers from North and East Syria, also called Rojava.

Hêza

Derya Deniz

Kurdish (Kurmanci dialect)

52

'

|

2022

The documentary ‘Hêza’ tells the story of the Ezidi woman Suad Murad Xelef (Hêza), who was abducted in the Shengal area in South Kurdistan/West Iraq along with 25 family members during the genocide carried out by the Islamic State (ISIS) on August 3, 2014.

Love in the Face of Genocide

Shero Hinde

Kurdish (Kurmanci dialect)

52

'

|

2023

The Êzidîs’ homeland in the mountains of Shengal has faced more than 74 massacres throughout its history, the most heinous of which was carried out by the Islamic State (ISIS) in 2014. The documentary ‘Love in the Face of Genocide’ explores the impact of suffering, religion and cultural difference on the songs of love in Shengal, and documents how the Êzidîs maintain their heritage and tell their stories of love and sorrow through their traditional Kurdish songs, the ‘dengbêj’.

Commander Arian

Alba Sotorra

Kurdish (Kurmanci dialect)

85

'

|

2018

30-year-old military Commander Arian leads her battalion of women as they fight the Islamic State (ISIS).

compressed stud life.jpg

An Engineered Dream

Hemant Gaba

Hindi

72

'

|

2018

An Engineered Dream follows the lives of four teenagers travelling from different corners of India to Kota, a coaching city where they cage themselves in cubicle-sized rooms in order to prepare for one of the toughest undergraduate engineering exams in the world with an acceptance rate of less than 1 percent.

TechnoCats

Gautam Sonti

English

85

'

|

2026

Seven young people from seven parts of the country (the Seven Samurai) dream of joining the IIT. Competing against one million applicants, they gain admission, but are soon disillusioned. Will they make their presence felt on the world stage? Or burn out along the way?

We have not come here to die

Deepa Dhanraj

English, Hindi, Gujarati, Telugu

100

'

|

2018

Following Rohith Vemula’s death in 2016, students across India began breaking their silence on caste discrimination in universities. This film traces the rise of a powerful anti-caste student movement, documenting how it challenged institutional discrimination and reshaped conversations around caste, identity, and equality in contemporary India.

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Banjaran Sisters

Tanvi Jadwani

Hindi, Malwi

28

'

|

2026

Three sisters who once dreamed of singing Kabir on stage return to music years later, navigating the space between domestic life and public voice, dream and reality, and discovering what it means for a woman to sing even when no one wants her to.

Bhaavi (The Well)

Balaji Maheshwar

Kannada, Tamil

62

'

|

2025

In a remote tribal village, a community unearths an age-old well, reviving not just their water source but their deep-rooted cultural and spiritual ties to nature. Bhaavi is an observational portrait of resilience, indigenous knowledge, and the fragile balance between humanity and ecology.

The Great Indian Illusion

Varrun Sukhraj

English, Hindi

78

'

|

2026

‘The Great Indian Illusion’ is an unsettling journey through India’s banking system, unravelling the invisible machinery of debt, power, and privilege shaping the nation.

Friends of Jilipibala

Debalina Majumder

Bengali

29

'

|

2025

The film follows a toddler Simran, affectionately nicknamed Jilipibala, as she explores the miniature cosmos of a giant tamarind tree located in the Vidyasagar Colony of South Kolkata.

Arupa Rupa

Deba Ranjan Sarangi

Odia

60

'

|

2024

Arupa Rupa (Formless Form) explores the spiritual and transformative journey of Mahima Swamy and Bhimabhoi, whose religious movement challenged caste hierarchy and social exclusion in India.

Sleepwalker Archives

Karthik Subramanian

English, Tamil

56

'

|

2024

A photographer encounters a mysterious woman whose image cannot be captured. Six years later, a note in a vast photo archive leads him back to her, sending him on a journey through photographs, memory, and absence.

Chaawal

Tamjeed Elahi Khan

English, Hindi, Marathi, Kannada

73

'

|

2024

Chaawal exposes the stark contrast between the tireless, backbreaking labor of Indian farmers and the staggering wastage of tons of rice during the traditional Akshata ritual at lavish Indian weddings. Through heartfelt interviews with farmers, priests, and citizens, the film uncovers the economic and cultural roots of this wasteful practice.

Where did our river flow to?

Biswajit Das

Assamese

19

'

|

2026

When does a river start dying? Who will remember the river once it disappears? Blending observation, oral histories, and personal narration, the film moves between memory and the present, revealing how ecological change quietly alters landscapes, livelihoods, and cultural traditions as the community learns to live with its absence.

I, Poppy

Vivek Chaudhary

Marwari, Hindi

82

'

|

2025

Filmed observationally for 5 years, I, Poppy is an intimate film about the intertwining but divergent paths of poppy farmer Vardibai and her activist son Mangilal as they grapple with systemic oppression.

Close up/Up Close - The Making of Political Ubu

Kamal K M

Malayalam

64

'

|

2026

Close Up/Up Close is a non-fiction testament to the volatile magic of live theatre, capturing the intense, physical journey of adapting Alfred Jarry’s 1896 absurdist masterpiece, Ubu Roi.

A Good Wife

Anuradha Bansal

English

90

'

|

2025

A Good Wife is a deeply personal exploration of womanhood, marriage, and freedom within an Indian Marwari Hindu community. The film is an attempt to reclaim agency, question inherited beliefs, and spark dialogue on autonomy and identity.

Metancherry

Sunil Raj (Sunil Nambu)

Malayalam

28

'

|

2025

Metancherry is an unconventional graphic trip to a geographical space like Mattancherry near Cochin, Kerala. Here, the past meets with the present in the common meta space.

Auto Queens

Sraiyanti Haricharan

Tamil

30

'

|

2025

In a quest to assert their identities as women auto rickshaw drivers, Mohana and Leela Rani navigate the heavily male-dominated streets of Chennai. Their personalities collide and unite while they lead a mobility revolution consisting of a growing network of women drivers.

Marriage Cops

Shashwati Talukdar and Cheryl Hess

Hindi

80

'

|

2025

Within the bustling corridors of a Dehradun police station, a remarkable form of justice unfolds as Officer Sandhya and her all-women team mediate troubled marriages in northern India.

meet the director.jpg

Uma Chakravarti is a feminist, historian, filmmaker, and an active voice in the women’s and democratic rights movements. Her films draw deeply from history, memory, and archival material, alongside her scholarship on Buddhism, caste, and gender.

Kamal is an established writer, director, and educationist from Kerala, India. A graduate of FTII Pune, he has made shorts, documentaries and feature films.

As an independent documentary filmmaker, Gautam explores contemporary systems that shape our lives, from education and workplaces to cities, food, and culture.

Varrun Sukhraj is a writer, director and producer with over a decade of experience in advertising, media and entertainment.

Screenwriter, writer and filmmaker Jaideep Varma worked in advertising as a copywriter, and wrote for various music publications before moving into filmmaking. He’s made five feature-length films, and wrote a novel in 2005.

Debalina Majumder is a Kolkata-based filmmaker, cinematographer, photographer and media producer.

Shashwati is currently working as an independent producer between Taiwan and India. She started her professional life in New York where she worked as an editor on projects for HBO, BBC, Lifetime, and the Sundance Channel.

Hemant Gaba is a National Award-winning filmmaker and has worked across formats - Feature, Short and Episodic in both fiction and documentary.

Deba Ranjan Sarangi is a writer and documentary filmmaker from Odisha, India. His films include The Conflict: Whose Loss, Whose Gain, From Hindu to Hindutva, and the award-winning Those Stars in the Sky, which received international recognition for its environmental and architectural focus. The Formless Form is his seventh documentary.

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